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Anne's Reviews > Prometheus Bound and Other Plays

Prometheus Bound and Other Plays by Aeschylus
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really liked it
bookshelves: classics, history, military-heroes, owned, plays, royalty, tbr-challenge-2015, greek-literature

Prometheus Bound : I really enjoyed being thrown back to high school and remembering Io the cow and all the crazy stories of the Greek gods. In this short play, Prometheus, who gave humans the gift of fire, is condemned to being chained to a mountain for having done so because Zeus doesn't approve. Io shows up and her reveals to her that she still has a long way before she will eventually conceive a child from Zeus.

The Suppliants : In this one the fifty daughters of Danaus (some descendant of Zeus and Io) are running away from their fifty cousins who want to bed them.

"Let them die before they ever lay hands
On us their cousins, to enter our unwilling beds,
Which Right forbids them!"


At least they understand how it works and know that bedding cousins is probably a BAD idea. This is putting Oedipus to serious shame. ;)
The whole play is pretty much about the ladies moaning and imploring the gods and the King of Argos, whom they chance upon and implore to help them. It was pretty crazy, but what would you expect from descendants of Zeus and a cow?

"The child pastured amid flowers,
The Calf whom Zeus begot
Of the Cow, mother of our race,
Made pregnant by the breathing and caress of Zeus"


Seven Against Thebes : This one was my favourite and a sort of prologue to Antigone, it tells the story of how the two brothers came to kill each other. For some reason the end made me laugh.

"Antigone: For you who died.
Ismene: For you who killed.
Antigone: My heart is wild with sobs.
Ismene: My soul groans in my body.
Antigone: Brother, whom I weep for -
Ismene: Brother, most pitiable -
Antigone: You were killed by your brother.
Ismene: You killed your brother.
Antigone: Twofold sorry to tell of -
Ismene: Twofold sorrow to see -
Antigone: Sorrow at the side of sorrow!
Ismene: Sorrow brother to sorrow!"


It's not even funny, but late at night it was.

The Persians : My least favourite, about the account of the battle of Salamis and the victory of the Athenians over Xerxes' army, and the latter's curse. It was good but less engaging than the rest.
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Reading Progress

March 15, 2015 – Started Reading
March 15, 2015 – Shelved
March 15, 2015 –
page 40
25.0% "Throwback to 11th grade in "Classics Civilizations" class where we learned about Zeus and his mistresses and Io the cow..."
March 23, 2015 –
page 88
55.0% ""A woman has no courage; what can she do alone?" What, indeed? Especially when there are 50 of you!!"
March 24, 2015 –
page 122
76.25% "It is no wonder at all that those two brothers killed each other...their father was Oedipus (aka their brother AND father. Eek.)."
March 26, 2015 – Finished Reading
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: classics
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: history
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: military-heroes
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: owned
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: plays
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: royalty
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: tbr-challenge-2015
March 29, 2015 – Shelved as: greek-literature

Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)

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message 1: by Hana (new)

Hana This sounds much more interesting than I would have expected! Did you read the Vellacott translation?


Anne It was great, I really enjoyed it! I really like Greek tragedies :) Yes, I did. Really good!!


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